Ex-footballer Paddy Lacey has revealed how his public fall from grace is acting as a valuable lesson to his younger brothers who are pursuing a career in the sport.
Lacey was once a promising prospect who spent time on the books at Sheffield Wednesday and Bradford City before finding his feet at Barrow and earning a move to Accrington Stanley.
However, Lacey’s career fell apart in 2017 when he was given a 14-month ban by the Football Association for admitting breaching anti-doping rules following a positive test for Benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine.
A few months later, the 29-year-old was sentenced to 16 months in prison when found in possession of 20.3 grams of cocaine, 16.8 grams of MDMA, and £520 in counterfeit £20 notes at Glastonbury Festival.
Lacey served five months of his sentence before being released and, looking to get his football career back on track, suffered a grim knee injury that led to several operations and sepsis.
The Liverpudlian eventually got back to full fitness and was, until recently, playing football at a semi-professional level for Warrington Rylands.
He also has a carpet fitting business and is back in sport as a boxer who stretched his perfect professional record to 7-0 on the undercard of Liam Smith vs Hassan Mwakinyo last September.
Lacey is living his football dream vicariously through his younger brothers Luis and Shea who are just starting out in the sport.
Luis, who has just turned 18, was most recently with Barnsley and is currently fielding offers from clubs who want to make him a professional footballer.
Meanwhile, at just 15 years old, Shea is already one of the most exciting young prospects in the country and often goes viral for his performances in Manchester United’s academy games.
The teenager, who can play anywhere across the forward line, is often compared to Manchester City star Phil Foden.
Shea continued to show off his potential this past weekend when he smashed home a left-footed effort from the edge of the area in his side’s 3-3 draw with Wolves under-18s.
Paddy believes his youngest brother is already better than he ever was and is destined to play at the highest level.
He told talkSPORT: “Shea is at Man United, just made his debut for England. He’s 15, a real whirlwind, I think. A real Champions League player, I do believe. I think Man United would say that themselves.
“He’s went all over the world playing tournaments against Real Madrid, Barcelona, Ajax and I think he’s had about eight or nine players of the tournaments since the age of 12.”
Like many, the former footballer believes his brother’s style of play is similar to Foden even though he is part of a small contingent of fans who have dubbed Shea ‘The Scouse Messi.’
Lacey added: “I know I’m biased because he’s my little brother but he’s very reminiscent of Phil Foden. The [Lionel] Messi shouts just kind of happened on Twitter. I don’t know who called him it first but we kind of jumped on it.
“Messi is his hero, plays quite similar and I’m really hopeful that he’s going to do something because he’s much better than me and his older brother, Luis.”
Lacey says that Shea was there to witness the peak of his career and also watched as it all fell apart due to his behaviour off the pitch.
Paddy revealed: “He was watching me against the likes of Bradford in the FA Cup in front of thousands, against Luton in front of 12,000 – he was there with my dad and Luis watching me.
“Fast forward six months and I’m sitting with a bib on in a prison hall like a k***head and he saw me go from hero to zero. So, he knows if you mess about it can all come undone.
“I thought the way I was playing at Accrington I was going up the football pyramid not down and the family all thought I was going to do well and get to the level I could and should’ve gone to.”
Paddy hasn’t necessarily had a sit-down conversation with his rising star brothers about staying on the right track given his mistakes are openly discussed in his family.
He concluded: “Shea saw the downfall, but he’s seen me build myself back up through boxing and my business. He’s fully aware, it’s no secret in our house, we talk about it all the time.
“They are conscious of it and they’ve learned plenty of lessons already. They are smart kids. You don’t wanna be anything like that crazy year that I had.
“So, I think it’s actually helped them in their career to see first-hand what can go wrong if you don’t protect yourself as a young lad.”
Lacey will continue his sports career on March 11 as he looks to improve his boxing record to 8-0 at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena – for tickets contact Paddy via Instagram.
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News Summary:
- Paddy Lacey, a former footballer banned and jailed over drugs, reveals how his public fall from grace will help Manchester United prospect brother compared to Phil Foden and Lionel Messi reach full potential
- Check all news and articles from the latest Boxing updates.